{"id":116430,"date":"2014-11-19T19:06:06","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T02:06:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/acting-up\/"},"modified":"2014-11-19T19:06:06","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T02:06:06","slug":"acting-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/acting-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Acting up"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Acting
Acting instructor Johamy Morales works with Dolores High School students in a class to build unity among the actors.<\/span>Sam Green\/Dolores Star<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Aspiring student actors in Dolores received some professional training this week from the Creede Repertory Theater.<\/p>\n

Acting instructor Johamy Morales conducted a 2-day workshop for students in drama teacher Pete Swingle\u2019s theater troupe.<\/p>\n

The drama club is in its second year and is gaining steam, but needs guidance on delivery and team-building. They will perform a two-act comedy, \u201cHoratio Will be Late\u201d Dec. 6, 7, 13, and 14. Saturday shows are at 7 p.m. and Sunday shows are at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really appreciating Morales\u2019 training,\u201d Swingle said. \u201cShe\u2019s building confidence for students and showing them that everyone is part of telling the story, not just the speakers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morales\u2019 works on melding the group to focused on a common goal. During one exercise, a ball is randomly tossed back and forth among group members as they recite lines.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the ball is dropped on stage, you lose energy, and the audience loses belief in your character,\u201d she says. \u201cIf you mess up, don\u2019t break character, stay in control and continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a milling exercise students wander in a group and find an open space all while gradually transforming themselves into an animal of choice.<\/p>\n

The entire cast is an ensemble, Morales continues, encouraging students to deliver their lines with a physical presence.<\/p>\n

\u201cRepress your shyness, release your fears,\u201d she says. \u201cHold your head up, don\u2019t apologize, dropping energy and focus is a disservice to all of your hard work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Assistant director Molly Cumpton, a junior, says the cast and crew for the upstart theater program are very dedicated.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is working hard to give their best,\u201d she says. \u201cThis workshop is helping us come together as a cast. We\u2019re getting good points of view on character development.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swingle is optimistic about the new theater program at Dolores Schools. The drama class is filling up fast, and nobody is turned away for performances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe find a role for everyone, whether acting, costumes, dancers, singers, set building, audio and lights, directing,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s getting around how much fun we\u2019re having.\u201d<\/p>\n

An anonymous $10,000 donation got the drama program going last year. The same donor chipped in another $10,000 for a modern sound system for the theater department.<\/p>\n

The upcoming play is a \u201crealistic comedy\u201d about a theater group bumbling an attempt at performing Hamlet, explained eighth-grade actor Cael McHenry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a play within a play, so we get to double up on our character,\u201d McHenry said. \u201cThe audience will love the humor of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Explains playwright Burton Bumgarner, \u201cChaos reigns as actors upstage each other, miscue each other, and finally end up in a big fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play about all the crazy things that can go wrong in a performance resonates with the students, assistant director Cumpton says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is our first big production,\u201d she explains. \u201cLast year was our first play, so we can really relate to the struggles that this one is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

jmimiaga@cortezjournal.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dolores drama gets head of steam<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":116431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6355],"tags":[103,188],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-116430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ds-education","tag-dolores-schools-re-4a","tag-dolores-star"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116430"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116430\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/116431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116430"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=116430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}